


They fell in love on the valentine shoot

by Zoeatthedisco



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 08:43:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17742683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoeatthedisco/pseuds/Zoeatthedisco
Summary: Simon Snow, aspiring actor gets a role for the next big movie "Day of the Roses" but here's the catch, so did Baz. No production ever goes smoothly when these two are together, but here they are, the main characters!





	They fell in love on the valentine shoot

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank the team from the Carry On Big Bang 2018 for inspiring me to get some work done!

On a horribly rainy day, Simon got his first solo part, a role in “The day of the Roses” But with a hidden catch, he was the starring role, along with Basilton himself.

“I never noticed it said Basil would be there too!” Simon groaned, and fell on the dingy grey couch

“You know if you read the whole thing,” Penny says with a sigh as she sits on the couch, throwing the letter at Simon. “It does say Basilton would be your co-star.”

“Where??”

“There!” Penny points at a paragraph far under the main text, it's underlined, but small, and seemed near unimportant.

“Oh,” Simon grabbed the paper and read where she indicated, “Maybe I should have been less excited.”

Simon laid the letter on the wooden side table next to the couch, and sat up, looking around his and Penny’s apartment. Maybe he shouldn't have done this role, this was a big ticket role, one that could launch him far into the public's eye, and maybe get Penny and him into a new place. But Basil? Would Simon even be able to properly act? The last time he and Bad worked together was a disaster, most on Simon, involving some powder pigments, unstapled scripts, and too much caffeine. Baz insisted Simon ruined his whole outfit and hair, but if anything Simon thought Baz might make looked better than before, being a little messy and the movement giving his hair some life. But that didn’t change the fact, Simon and Baz did as little work together as possible.

“Should I just call in?” Simon sighed. “Is it too late?”

“No!” Penny flicks the back of his head. “This is the role! What, so Baz is there, this role could get us at least three reservations at Olive garden.”

Simon rubbed the back of his head and laughed. “Three? Are you sure this is such a key role?”

“You bet! If you keep up the big roles, maybe we can up it to five!”

Simon moved his hands onto his lap, fidgeting with them. Olive garden was the place they went when after they paid the bills, bought the groceries, replace whatever broke that two weeks, and had enough left. it was rare, because Penny always insisted on putting half of whatever was left in the bank for a emergency. It was the fanciest place they went, which says a lot about their class.  
“Do you think I’ll mess it all up again?”

“Simon!” Penny dramatically stretches her limbs out and turns to fall onto Simon’s lap. “When have you ever messed it all up?”

“Well let's think,” Simon pushes his hair back with one hand while absentmindedly playing with hers with the other. “There's that time I forgot my lines in the middle of a performance, a live performance, or that time I spilled coffee all over the director while I was looking down at my lines, or when I spilled pigments over Baz, or when-”

“Stop, stop stop!” Penny taps the top of Simon’s nose to get him to hush. “First of all, we all forget lines, it happens, the show goes on. Secondly, that director was an ass anyways, and you still didn’t get fired. Third, Baz is rude, and it was one incident! Lastly, no matter how many ones you come up with, you’re still here. You’re going to the roses!”

“Penny.”

“Yeah, Simon?”

“Why are you the best friend in the world?”

Penny smiled and put her hands under her chin. “Cause it's me!”

When the script came in, Penny highlighted every line and stage cue Simon had, a common practice between the two of them. Simon drilled the lines and way they can be said, Penny color-coded and gave Simon different interpretations.

Always the 3 weeks before the rehearsal they performed mini shows for each other, the one who had to act stood up in front of the couch, the talker sat laid upon it.

“Ok, ok, Simon,” Penny flipped through his script and picked out a line. “What comes after, “But Be, my darling, is this what you want?.”

“Trust me Doe, we’ll be ok,” Simon mimicked the stage directions he knew to be there, arnd reach a hand out to an invisible chest, looking upwards. “The roses always welcomed me.”

Penny smiled, and burst into complete laughter.

“Pen!”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry!” Penny laughed trying to catch her breath, “That was great!”

“Then why the laughter?”

Penny pointed to the blue section after his lines. “See, the way that you did if fact lookup as you did that, Baz is gonna be all taller than you and you’ll have to stage kiss him.”

“He isn’t that tall!” or Simon thought so, the last time he could compare was at their last set, the one they avoided each other after Simon make a mess. “I think.”

“What? You embarrassed to be smaller?”

“Hey! I’m still taller than you.” Simon folded his arms and frowned.

“Aww come on, no need to pout you big baby.”

“This isn’t the lines Penny.”

“Grow a few inches taller and then you can boss me around.”

“You’re a bully you know that right?”

“Yeah but you’re the one who agreed to move in with me, so who's really at fault?” Penny stood up and raised her arms up. “Come on.”

Simon grudgingly sighed and looked Penny in the eyes, they both bursted out in laughter and Simon completed the hug.

“You’ll do great,” Penny reached up to ruffle Simons hair “you know that right?”

Simon gave out a laughing sigh and pulled out of Penny’s hug. “I can try, that's for sure.”

“Hey, well I believe in you Si.”

Simon let out a breath. “Thanks Penny, anyways, what are we making for dinner?”

“Rose soup.”

“That’s not real meal.”

“Says who?”

“The common sense in my mind.”

“Ok fine, that's just rose water anyways, but I’m making mac and cheese, so keep running your lines, you only have a little bit longer.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“You know, if you keep worrying about today, you only suffer twice.”

“Penny, have we not learned that I constantly worry until the act off?” Simon gave the base of his hair one last tussle, looking in the car’s window reflection. They were in the parking lot off the shooting space, he was nervous, he knew he had all the lines down, but everything always changed once he was truly inside.

“Simon!”

“Pen.”

Penny grabbed his hand, forcing Simon to look up. “Simon, you’ll be ok, I promise.”

Simon gave a short sigh. “You’re right.”

Penny gave Simon’s hand a short squeeze, then opened the car door back up to get in. Simon wished Penny could still be with him for this shoot, like other ones before, but he was on his own. Penny drove off, and Simon turned to face the grey building in front of him, Baz would be there, his future would be there. 

“Snow!” A familiar voice called out to Simon. “I'm not excited to work with you too but that doesn’t mean you get to stand in the parking lot.

Simon turned around, it was Baz, leaning on a black sports car. Simon couldn’t help but manage to look at how striking Baz look, even though his outfit was far from extravagant. Black slim cut jeans, a french tucked white button up, his hair was slightly slicked back, but had an also messy eleigence. It was annoying, Simon took a couple hours trying to find something easy to change out off, but still look good for when he and Penny went out with Micah to celebrate today. Micah was flying in from his winter break during uni, and it just so happened to line up with the shooting.

“You know, I have a lot more options than milling about the lot to avoid you.” Simon moved up to Baz, folding his arms, trying to hide the fact that his version of ‘dressed up’ was a grey v neck, dark jeans, and nice-ish shoes.

Baz gave a smug smirk, tilting his face up, like he already knew all of Simon's secrets by a single look. “You know, I think it’d be quite the tragedy for us to avoid each other, seeing the roles we play.”

Simon couldn’t help but letting a shocked look come across his face, was Baz teasing him? “You’re insufferable.”

Baz let out a short laugh. “Well Be,” Baz stood up and put his hand up to caresses Simon's cheek. “Let me know when you’re ready to practice up a bit.”

Baz let his fingers slide off Simon's face, slowly as he walked past him to the buildings door. Simon’s body was almost in a state of shock, and he was refusing to acknowledge the fact that he was 100% blushing. He wasn’t, no! Simon was just embarrassed, that’s it. He’d learn to deal with it later, once he got more practice with Baz, right? He wasn’t going to let Baz get the better of him, like before, The day of the Roses wasn’t going to be a complete flop. He’d be sure of it.

“And, cut!” The director shouted, Simon giving out a sigh, a wrap on the poster hanging scene. He wasn’t in this one, but Baz was, and it was annoying, standing by watching from the sidelines. Baz was perfect, he never had to do a scene over again and again, he knew his lines, his cues, almost as if he was built for the stage. 

“You know Snow,” Baz tillited up his head, not inching any closer then the edge of the set. “We’ve yet to practice a single line together.”

“Tragic.” Simon folded up his arms, giving yet another involuntary sigh.

Baz stepped forward to be right in front of Simon, making eye contact with him. “I’d think you’d run out of breath with how much you sigh.”

Simon felt his brows furrow. “You’re not any helpful, you know that right?”

Baz gave his all too piercing grin. “Maybe that was my plan all along, Snow.”

“Baz! You-!” Simon never got to finish before Baz turned around, his smile probably still plastered to that evil face of his.

Part of his plan? What was he even on about? Some plot to get Simon out of The Roses?

“Simon!” A higher pitched voice called out to him.

“Hello?”

“Up here!”

Simon looked towards the rafters, to see a smiling girl waving at him, Agatha!

“Ags!”

Agatha’s face lit up, things had been awkward between Simon and her, when they had to fake date for an old movie, misplaced feeling and the longing to be in love. But after years, they realized they would realized they had a much better friendship then relationship. Agatha ran down the connecting stairway, and launched Simon into a hug.

“Simon! I’ve missed you.” Agatha pulled away, her laughter dissipating all anger the he felt.  
“Me too, what are you doing here Ags? I haven’t seen you mentioned on any cast list.”

“Oh! Did I forget to tell you? I’m dropping out of acting, I’m gonna be working only crew now.” Another bright smile beamed across her face, but Simon felt confused. Crew? This was Agatha, the pretty lead role, who would be the star of the show, though she never had many lines.

“Crew? But aren’t you an actor.”

“I-, not anymore, I’m sick of being just a pretty face.”

“But you’re-”

A voice cut through their conversation. “Simon!” It was Davy, the director. A terrified look flashed across Agatha’s face before she turned around and run back to the rafters.

“Simon!” Davy called again, this time Simon seeing him on the director’s chair. He motioned for Simon to draw near, though he couldn’t help but wonder what made Agatha so scared of him. 

“Yes sir?”

Davy said nothing but pointed to the stage, set up just for his scene. The stage lighting was now a beautiful light purple, it was set up for a scene closer to the end, when Be and his best friend Trixi snuck out. The whole place resembled a dystopian back alley, which was supposed to be scary to line up with the scene, but Simon felt a wave of comfort when looking at the set. It all resembled his old home with Lucy before she disappeared. Normally reminders of her made Simon cry, but for some reason, this, albeit fake, reminded him of Lucy’s last words to him.

‘My little rosebud,” Lucy had held Simon’s hands, kneeling down to reach eye level with him. “Remember everything I’ve ever taught you, keep your head up, back straight, and teeth clean.”

“So I never have to pay the cost for a bad back or tooth!” Little Simon grinned, he knew he wasn’t like the other kids, he didn’t have a second voice telling him this kinda stuff, but he felt happy with Lucy, that’s all he cared about.

“Good job mon cher fils.” Lucy picked up little 5 year old Simon and carried him to bed, tucking him in. “Sweet dreams, I love you.”

Simon felt a sweetness rush over him, his worries about Agatha and Baz melting away, he was already dressed a long time ago, a dark blue jean and red shirt, but untied the blue jacket around his waist and tossed it over to the side. He no longer felt the cold the always engulfed him when Baz was around. Simon hopped on the slight elevation of the stage, letting the heat of the lights warm him. The snap of the board let Simon shift his shoulders back, and become Be.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And cut!”

Simon let a large breath, blinking quickly, recentering himself before stepping off the platform.

“Good job, Snow.” Simon looked up, it was Baz who complimented him.

“Thanks?” Simon leaned over to grab his jacket again, the cool chill washing over him.

“What makes it a question?”

“You never seem to really like me anyways, Baz.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Uh,” Simon folded his arms over his chest. “Everything?”

Baz tilted his head again before lifting his hand to softly brush a curly off of Simon’s forehead. “You know Simon,” he leaned closer to whisper in Simon’s ear. “You really ought to pay more attention.” He pulled back and stuffed his hands in his pockets before he turned and walked away.

“You! Uh-.” Simon was stuttering and red, what was that for? More embarrassment?

Simon frowned, he didn’t like this, all this feeling, and blushing. It was too much, even if they had to have some kind of “chemistry”

He’ll be ok, he was sure of it, he’ll make it happen. The roses was his, he’ll make sure everyone is proud of him, he had everything to prove.


End file.
